George Russell has revealed how he contacted Toto Wolff for the first time to introduce himself as a young racing driver.

Russell is now a race winner after moving to Mercedes at the start of the season and, despite the team having a tough year by their high standards, impressing greatly with his consistency and speed.

Indeed, he won his first Grand Prix in Brazil earlier this month and looks every bit as good as Merc would have hoped when he was coming through as a junior for them.

Speaking to the High Performance podcast, then, he revealed his first contact with Toto Wolff and how it all started in terms of his relationship with the Silver Arrows:

"I thought at the age of 16, the world would come to me, but I realised they're not looking for me. You've gotta go and look for them. You've gotta knock on their door.

"Toto's not gonna look at British Formula 4 and say, you know, 'there's a kid, George Russell here, who's won the championship by a couple of points, we need to sign him.'

"But if I put myself in front of him and talked to him and showed him what I'm made of, maybe there's an opportunity. So I remember I was in Abu Dhabi at the time doing a test in Formula 3 and I managed to get hold of his email and I thought, 'I've got nothing to lose.' Worst case scenario he doesn't reply, in which case I've lost nothing. Best case he replies and I literally just sent him an email.

George Russell in practice for the 2022 Japanese Grand Prix

SUZUKA, JAPAN - OCTOBER 07: George Russell of Great Britain driving the (63) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team W13 on track during practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Japan at Suzuka International Racing Course on October 07, 2022 in Suzuka, Japan. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)

"I didn't want to go in too hard. I just said, you know, 'I'm George Russell. It'd be great to meet you and talk about the future potentially.'"

Things obviously went well from that initial contact, and Russell will be looking forward to 2023 and a potentially even better year if the car is up to scratch.

Jake Humphrey and Damian Hughes will tour the UK with the High Performance live show next year.


You can keep up to date with all the latest F1 news, rumours and results right here at Give Me Sport.